# If you woke up in the year 1900? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 24, 2006, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-woke-up-in-the-year-1900/349684 "2006-03-24T04:38:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-woke-up-in-the-year-1900/349684/21 "2006-03-24T06:40:18Z")
[QUOTE=bouv] It was used extensively in the late 19th and early 20th century, especially for dentisry, being an oral analgesic and all. [/QUOTE] Yep, I knew that. But I thought the stuff was essentially dirt cheap at the time, so I’m unsure why it would be a good investment. Now…if you know the formula for some of the cocaine derivitave drugs…THAT might make cocaine very popular (and valuable). -XT ---
**Author:** ![Mayo\_Speaks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mayo\_Speaks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mayo_Speaks)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-woke-up-in-the-year-1900/349684/22 "2006-03-24T06:57:44Z")
Personally, I’d save President McKinley and be a hero! Surely I could get a nice book deal out of that. And who wants that creep T. Roosevelt to be president, anyways? And I’d find Mr. James Naismith and demonstrate the newfangled “jump shot” and “dribble.” I’d be the original Harlem Globetrotter! I also know enough physics/engineering to invent the electric guitar. I’ll call it the “Mayo Stratocaster.” Our Jimi Hendrix will buy one in c. 1907, and I’ll be set for life. And I’d pay the 1919 White Sox to lose the World Series. Except for that bastard Joe Jackson. He won’t come through. ---
**Author:** ![Mayo\_Speaks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mayo\_Speaks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mayo_Speaks)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-woke-up-in-the-year-1900/349684/23 "2006-03-24T07:08:00Z")
[QUOTE=This space intentionally blank] Personally, I’d save President McKinley and be a hero! Surely I could get a nice book deal out of that. And who wants that creep T. Roosevelt to be president, anyways? And I’d find Mr. James Naismith and demonstrate the newfangled “jump shot” and “dribble.” I’d be the original Harlem Globetrotter! I also know enough physics/engineering to invent the electric guitar. I’ll call it the “ **Mayo** Stratocaster.” Our Jimi Hendrix will buy one in c. 1907, and I’ll be set for life. And I’d pay the 1919 White Sox to lose the World Series. Except for that bastard Joe Jackson. He won’t come through. [/QUOTE] It’s probably worth noting that “Mayo” is my last name. ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-woke-up-in-the-year-1900/349684/24 "2006-03-24T07:23:14Z")
[QUOTE=This space intentionally blank] It’s probably worth noting that “Mayo” is my last name. [/QUOTE] It is? Dude, forget the guitar, start a clinic! Alright, give me Hamm on five, hold the Mayo. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-woke-up-in-the-year-1900/349684/25 "2006-03-24T07:31:44Z")
[QUOTE=xtisme] Yep, I knew that. But I thought the stuff was essentially dirt cheap at the time, so I’m unsure why it would be a good investment. Now…if you know the formula for some of the cocaine derivitave drugs…THAT might make cocaine very popular (and valuable). -XT [/QUOTE] Like crack? You’re a genius! ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-woke-up-in-the-year-1900/349684/26 "2006-03-24T11:12:42Z")
[QUOTE=dnooman] Like crack? You’re a genius! [/QUOTE] [The British already beat you to it…](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_Wars) ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-woke-up-in-the-year-1900/349684/27 "2006-03-24T14:14:41Z")
[QUOTE=Martini Enfield] That’s all well and good, but I won’t care, since by the time I’ve finished suing notable authors for plagiarising my work and stealing my ideas, I’ll have invented the Self-Loading Lee-Enfield Rifle, beating John Garand to the punch by 20-odd years, and ensuring that .303 British ammunition remains affordable and readily available far into the future. You can also bet that the first affordable Sub Machine Gun (Looking curiously like a Thompson M1928) would be chambered in .455 Webley, and a century later Gun Magazines would be reviewing the Webley Mk XIVA1 Revolver… 😃 [/QUOTE] I’d partner up with a good mechanical engineer or existing arms manufacturer and do the weapons design thing, too. Only difference is that I’d skip over machining-intensive weapons like the Garand and Thompson. I’d go straight to the stamped/welded weapons that started showing up during WWII. They are just as effective as their more complicated and expensive machined counterparts and far cheaper and easier to produce. ScumpupCo Weapons Division would be able to undersell **everybody**. What’s that you say? Traditional militaries of the time would be put off by the design and refuse to purchase them? Feh. There are more customers than hide-bound military men. I imagine I’d be able to sell lots of arms to the Mexican revolutionaries for starters. Also to those who wished to throw off the yoke of the Ottomans. Plenty of customers. I’d also have ideas up my sleeve for nifty items AFV’s, RPG’s, and so on. Small arms technology, with the exception of things like NV optical sights, hasn’t really progressed in a century or so. It’d be a cinch to produce “modern” weapons with 1900-era machinery. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-woke-up-in-the-year-1900/349684/28 "2006-03-24T15:05:51Z")
[QUOTE=Spatial Rift 47] Quantum Mechanics and Relativity Theory. I’d be the superstar of modern physics, singlehandedly revolutionizing both the large and the small scale theories. Then I’d get to work on unifying the two. [/QUOTE] And everyone else will still be mostly clueless, even the bright people. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-woke-up-in-the-year-1900/349684/29 "2006-03-24T15:42:39Z")
1900? Sounds like a good time to alert the War Office to the potential of a caterpillar-treaded fighting vehicle, armour plated, internal-combustion powered, and toting a 3" gun chambered for both AP and HE, plus at least a couple of machine-guns. And then explain that you keep the infantry _with_ this devastating weapon, and don’t run it too far away from its fuel and ammunition resupply. Then I think I can manage enough of the operating principles of the turbojet to be able to reinvent it at least twenty years ahead of schedule. And a note for forty-odd years hence: Although Singapore is more or less impregnable to seaborne invasion, a determined enemy could run a land army down through Malaya if they really wanted to. It’d be awfully tempting to dope out a “cargo cult” Internet based on telex terminals and card-readers. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-woke-up-in-the-year-1900/349684/30 "2006-03-24T16:20:34Z")
I’d jumpstart the computer industry. I figure 64 bits of memory should be enough for anyone. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-woke-up-in-the-year-1900/349684/31 "2006-03-24T17:04:37Z")
Amway. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-woke-up-in-the-year-1900/349684/32 "2006-03-24T17:35:03Z")
Invest in automobile production. Invest in electricity generation (but don’t listen to Edison). Invest in oil and gasoline production. Buy radio station licenses. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-woke-up-in-the-year-1900/349684/33 "2006-03-24T17:46:52Z")
All these investing ideas are great, but the OP specifically said you have no money and don’t know anyone. I love the sue authors for stealing ‘your’ work ones, funny stuff. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-woke-up-in-the-year-1900/349684/34 "2006-03-24T17:56:11Z")
[QUOTE=Antinor01] All these investing ideas are great, but the OP specifically said you have no money and don’t know anyone. I love the sue authors for stealing ‘your’ work ones, funny stuff. [/QUOTE] No preparation either. Presumably just the clothes on your back and whatever is in your head at the time. If I’m given a few weeks to prepare I could definitely make an early killing (just have to memorize a map of unfound resources up to 1900…or hell, the exact location of the Atocha (sp?) or other treasure ships/lost hordes of gold :)). Without that prep time though the best bet would be to use your ‘modern’ skills to get a job, get enough of a stake to make some investments, and then work your way up from there. -XT ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-woke-up-in-the-year-1900/349684/35 "2006-03-24T18:31:25Z")
No burglar alarms; I’d B&E until I had enough cash to do some investing. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-woke-up-in-the-year-1900/349684/36 "2006-03-24T18:38:22Z")
[QUOTE=An Arky] No burglar alarms; I’d B&E until I had enough cash to do some investing. [/QUOTE] They still had dogs. There were also such things as trip-wire guns still around. Also, I believe that early versions of electrical burglar alarms were in use by 1900. They were (mostly still are for that matter) nothing but a switch that completes a circuit and rings a bell. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-woke-up-in-the-year-1900/349684/37 "2006-03-24T18:49:51Z")
Well, hell. I’d be screwed, because I have no useful skills… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-woke-up-in-the-year-1900/349684/38 "2006-03-24T19:03:34Z")
I’d learn to play guitar and piano then form a band a go about writing the largest collection of songs they had never heard of. I could do all the classics from all genres by whatever I remembered. ---
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-woke-up-in-the-year-1900/349684/39 "2006-03-24T19:30:10Z")
I would work as a schoolteacher, making use of my general knowledge base and heavy wooden ruler ( :eek: ), until I started seeing a return on my investments in the stock market, then I’d quit and start buying real estate in places I know would become busy in the next few decades. ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-woke-up-in-the-year-1900/349684/40 "2006-03-24T19:38:26Z")
I would go see Henry Ford or Walter Chrysler . I can’t even imagine how far vehicles would be evolved . [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-woke-up-in-the-year-1900/349684.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-woke-up-in-the-year-1900/349684.md?page=3)